Friday's letters

Published: Friday, March 22, 2013 at 1:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, March 21, 2013 at 6:16 p.m.

In President Barack Obama's recent State of the Union address he stated: "Tonight, I propose working with states to make high quality preschool available to every child in America."

Nationwide access to preschool would be hugely important. As Obama noted, "study after study shows that the sooner a child begins to learn, the better he or she does down the road." This is an absolute fact, but we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that it would also be extremely important in helping parents of all incomes go to work and know that their children are benefiting from quality care.

Child care is a subject we debate endlessly in exactly the wrong ways: Should moms work? Are nannies evil? The truth is, child care is a fact and what we should be talking about is that most people cannot afford it and get no help.

Cost is a huge barrier for American families. The average child-care expense at our facility, Kinderhouse Preschool, is $9,000 a year. That's about 18 percent of the median household income in 2011, which was just over $50,000, according to the Census Bureau.

According to the Huffington Post of March 15, the U.S. spends 58 percent of the total defense dollars paid out by the world's top 10 military powers, which combined for $1.19 trillion in military funding in 2011. We, therefore, can afford to allocate funding to child care and cannot afford to delay addressing this issue.

Laura Marrone

Director

Kinderhouse Preschool

Sarasota

Vote for gun victims

As the Sandy Hook school massacre of 20 children and six staff begins to fade from our consciousness, we would do well to remember what President Barack Obama called for in his State of the Union address.

He said that they and the thousands of other victims of gun violence in our country deserve a vote in the Congress on sensible and necessary proposals to curb gun violence, including universal background checks, the banning of assault weapons and ammo clips of more than 30 rounds and stiffer penalties for "straw" gun sales.

It is long past time for the members of Congress to represent all of the American people and stop kowtowing to Wayne LaPierre and the National Rifle Association. A strong majority of the American people, including many members of the NRA, support the proposals to curb gun violence mentioned above. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 88 percent of registered voters nationwide -- including 85 percent of those with guns -- back universal background checks for gun sales.

At the very least, Sens. Bill Nelson and Marc Rubio and Congressmen Vern Buchanan and Tom Rooney should push their leaders to allow votes on all these proposals. We should insist that they do so.

Mike Donohue

Sarasota

Ban bazookas, certainly

While one should certainly agree that the recent conduct of Sen. Ted Cruz toward Sen. Dianne Feinstein was not very polite, one must also agree that Sen. Feinstein will never likely win any Miss Congeniality award. One tends to get what one gives.

Beyond that, one must also perhaps forgive Sen. Cruz when it is apparent that exempting 2,271 weapons from the proposed assault weapons ban means that Feinstein, after nearly 10 years, cannot define in objective terms just what an "assault weapon" is. She, and others, base their entire proscription on what a firearm looks like. No military in the world would ask their troops to "assault" anything with the semi-automatic firearms Feinstein seeks to ban. Most law enforcement organizations, likewise, want the real assault weapons, not the "civilian" models Sen. Feinstein wants to ban.

But by all means do ban bazookas. If you can objectively describe them.

Stephen Huth

Sarasota

Too many angry people

There seem to be a lot of angry people out there.

Some people are angry that there are too many guns, with too much ammunition, in too many of the wrong hands. Others are angry that any type of gun control will violate the Second Amendment, which guarantees their right to arm bears. Umm, the First Amendment protects my right to be dyslexic. And I own a KA 74, and a Wesson and Smith 83, just in case one of those pesky bears gets in my house.

We have a number of neighboring states that have been angry with each other for a long time -- Pakistan and India, North and South Korea, Michigan and Ohio, to name a few.

Quite a few people are angry at inconsiderate drivers who hang out in the left lane, tailgate, signal only when stopped in a turn lane and give you the single-digit salute when they cut you off.

Most of us are at least a bit annoyed about the high price of gas. We are all ticked off because the president and Congress can't get together on a budget and cut the deficit. Did you vote for the other guy?

We have a new political party that is very angry that our country is going in the wrong direction, or are they just Tea-d off?

I'm angry about my golf game, or am I just tee-d off? Hmmm?

Rick Garms

Englewood

Abuse or freedom?

I got a chuckle out of the editorial in Wednesday's Herald-Tribune from the Washington Post, "Abuse of filibuster continues in Senate." My guess is that this writer found such abuse when Republicans held the Senate as the expression of a Democratic republic.

The founders were specific in preventing the tyranny of the majority no matter what party was in control.

<p>Make quality preschool</p><p>available and affordable</p><p>In President Barack Obama's recent State of the Union address he stated: "Tonight, I propose working with states to make high quality preschool available to every child in America."</p><p>Nationwide access to preschool would be hugely important. As Obama noted, "study after study shows that the sooner a child begins to learn, the better he or she does down the road." This is an absolute fact, but we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that it would also be extremely important in helping parents of all incomes go to work and know that their children are benefiting from quality care.</p><p>Child care is a subject we debate endlessly in exactly the wrong ways: Should moms work? Are nannies evil? The truth is, child care is a fact and what we should be talking about is that most people cannot afford it and get no help.</p><p>Cost is a huge barrier for American families. The average child-care expense at our facility, Kinderhouse Preschool, is $9,000 a year. That's about 18 percent of the median household income in 2011, which was just over $50,000, according to the Census Bureau.</p><p>According to the Huffington Post of March 15, the U.S. spends 58 percent of the total defense dollars paid out by the world's top 10 military powers, which combined for $1.19 trillion in military funding in 2011. We, therefore, can afford to allocate funding to child care and cannot afford to delay addressing this issue.</p><p>Laura Marrone</p><p>Director</p><p>Kinderhouse Preschool</p><p>Sarasota</p><p>Vote for gun victims</p><p>As the Sandy Hook school massacre of 20 children and six staff begins to fade from our consciousness, we would do well to remember what President Barack Obama called for in his State of the Union address.</p><p>He said that they and the thousands of other victims of gun violence in our country deserve a vote in the Congress on sensible and necessary proposals to curb gun violence, including universal background checks, the banning of assault weapons and ammo clips of more than 30 rounds and stiffer penalties for "straw" gun sales.</p><p>It is long past time for the members of Congress to represent all of the American people and stop kowtowing to Wayne LaPierre and the National Rifle Association. A strong majority of the American people, including many members of the NRA, support the proposals to curb gun violence mentioned above. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 88 percent of registered voters nationwide -- including 85 percent of those with guns -- back universal background checks for gun sales.</p><p>At the very least, Sens. Bill Nelson and Marc Rubio and Congressmen Vern Buchanan and Tom Rooney should push their leaders to allow votes on all these proposals. We should insist that they do so.</p><p>Mike Donohue</p><p>Sarasota</p><p>Ban bazookas, certainly</p><p>While one should certainly agree that the recent conduct of Sen. Ted Cruz toward Sen. Dianne Feinstein was not very polite, one must also agree that Sen. Feinstein will never likely win any Miss Congeniality award. One tends to get what one gives.</p><p>Beyond that, one must also perhaps forgive Sen. Cruz when it is apparent that exempting 2,271 weapons from the proposed assault weapons ban means that Feinstein, after nearly 10 years, cannot define in objective terms just what an "assault weapon" is. She, and others, base their entire proscription on what a firearm looks like. No military in the world would ask their troops to "assault" anything with the semi-automatic firearms Feinstein seeks to ban. Most law enforcement organizations, likewise, want the real assault weapons, not the "civilian" models Sen. Feinstein wants to ban.</p><p>But by all means do ban bazookas. If you can objectively describe them.</p><p>Stephen Huth</p><p>Sarasota</p><p>Too many angry people</p><p>There seem to be a lot of angry people out there.</p><p>Some people are angry that there are too many guns, with too much ammunition, in too many of the wrong hands. Others are angry that any type of gun control will violate the Second Amendment, which guarantees their right to arm bears. Umm, the First Amendment protects my right to be dyslexic. And I own a KA 74, and a Wesson and Smith 83, just in case one of those pesky bears gets in my house.</p><p>We have a number of neighboring states that have been angry with each other for a long time -- Pakistan and India, North and South Korea, Michigan and Ohio, to name a few.</p><p>Quite a few people are angry at inconsiderate drivers who hang out in the left lane, tailgate, signal only when stopped in a turn lane and give you the single-digit salute when they cut you off.</p><p>Most of us are at least a bit annoyed about the high price of gas. We are all ticked off because the president and Congress can't get together on a budget and cut the deficit. Did you vote for the other guy?</p><p>We have a new political party that is very angry that our country is going in the wrong direction, or are they just Tea-d off?</p><p>I'm angry about my golf game, or am I just tee-d off? Hmmm?</p><p>Rick Garms</p><p>Englewood</p><p>Abuse or freedom?</p><p>I got a chuckle out of the editorial in Wednesday's Herald-Tribune from the Washington Post, "Abuse of filibuster continues in Senate." My guess is that this writer found such abuse when Republicans held the Senate as the expression of a Democratic republic.</p><p>The founders were specific in preventing the tyranny of the majority no matter what party was in control.</p><p>Bill Falcone</p><p>Sarasota</p>